USPTO Patents Application 09748277

Application No.: 09/748,277 Docket No.: 8733.363.00

REMARKS

At the outset, the Examiner is thanked for the thorough review and consideration of the
pending application. The final Office Action dated October 20, 2004 has been received and its
contents carefully reviewed.

By this Amendment, Applicants amend claims 6-11. Accordingly, claims 6-12 are
currently pending. Reexamination and reconsideration of the pending claims is respectfully
requested.

In the Office Action, the Examiner rejected claims 6-12 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
being unpatentable over Applicant's Related Art (ARA) in view of Dingwall et al. (U.S. Patent
No. 5,307,188). Applicants respectfully traverse this rejection.

Claim 6 is allowable over the cited references in that claim 6 recites a combination of
elements including, for example, "an upper polarizer having a color filter layer on a upper
substrate. . . wherein the lower polarizer includes a light shielding layer formed in a rectangular
shape having a rectangular opening along a peripheral portion of the lower polarizer to permit
the light to pass through the rectangular opening; wherein the light shielding layer only blocks a
portion of the light traveling to four peripheral sides of the lower polarizer for minimizing
constructive interference at a peripheral portion of the LCD device..." None of the cited
references, singly or in combination, teaches or suggests at least these features of the claimed
invention.

The Office Action on page 4 has conceded that ARA fails to teach "a lower polarizer that
includes said light shielding film." The Office Action relies upon Dingwall et al. to cure the
deficiencies of ARA . However, Applicants submit that the layer having the opaque black mask
235 below the lower polarizer 237b in Dingwall et al. appears to correspond to a color filter layer
because the opaque black mask 235 surrounds the color patches 233a, 233b and 233c.
Additionally, Applicants note that ARA discloses a color filter layer on the upper substrate 4.
See Instant Application^ for example, on page 3, lines 4-5. Thus, if the color filter layer of
Dingwall et al.. which includes the black mask 235 and the color patches 233a, 233b and 233c,
were to used to modify the device of ARA, as suggested by the Examiner, the resulting device
would have two color filter layers which would degrade a display characteristic such as
brightness. Because of such display degradation, one of ordinary skill in the art would not be

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Application No.: 09/748,277

Docket No.: 8733.363.00

motivated to modify ARA by the teachings of Dingwall et al. to obtain a device having the
combined features recited in the claims of the present application. Accordingly, Applicants
respectfully submit that claim 6 and claims 7-12, which depend therefrom, are allowable over the
cited references.

Applicants believe the application is in condition for allowance and early, favorable
action is respectfully solicited. If for any reason the Examiner finds the application other than in
condition for allowance, the Examiner is requested to call the undersigned attorney at (202) 496-
7500 to discuss the steps necessary for placing the application in condition for allowance. All
correspondence should continue to be sent to the below-listed address.

If these papers are not considered timely filed by the Patent and Trademark Office, then a
petition is hereby made under 37 C.F.R. §1.136, and any additional fees required under 37
C.F.R. § 1.136 for any necessary extension of time, or any other fees required to complete the
filing of this response, may be charged to Deposit Account No. 50-091 1 . Please credit any
overpayment to deposit Account No. 50-091 1 . A duplicate copy of this sheet is enclosed.

Dated: June 20, 2005 Respectfully submitted,

Song K. Jung 0
Registration No. : 35,210
MCKENNA LONG & ALDRIDGE LLP
1900 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 496-7500
Attorney for Applicant

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Application No.: 09/748,277

Docket No.: 8733363.00

motivated to modify ARA by the teachings of Dingwall et al. to obtain a device having the
combined features recited in the claims of the present application. Accordingly, Applicants
respectfully submit that claim 6 and claims 7-12, which depend therefrom, are allowable over the
cited references.

Applicants believe the application is in condition for allowance and early, favorable
action is respectfully solicited. If for any reason the Examiner finds the application other than in
condition for allowance, the Examiner is requested to call the undersigned attorney at (202) 496-
7500 to discuss the steps necessary for placing the application in condition for allowance. All
correspondence should continue to be sent to the below-listed address.

If these papers are not considered timely filed by the Patent and Trademark Office, then a
petition is hereby made under 37 C.F.R. §1.136, and any additional fees required under 37
C.F.R. § 1 . 136 for any necessary extension of time, or any other fees required to complete the
filing of this response, may be charged to Deposit Account No. 50-091 1 . Please credit any
overpayment to deposit Account No. 50-091 1. A duplicate copy of this sheet is enclosed.

Dated: June 20, 2005 Respectfully submitted,

Song K. Jung 0
Registration No. : 3 5 ,2 1 0
MCKENNA LONG & ALDRJDGE LLP
1900 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 496-7500
Attorney for Applicant

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